Essay On Diamonds Are A Diamond

“Diamonds are a girls best friend”?

LifeGem is taking this saying to the next level. Now you can have a diamond made from cremated remains of your family, friends, and even pets.

Now your best friend really can be a diamond!

What Is A Diamond?

What Is A Diamond?

The word Diamond comes from the Greek word Adamas, which means indestructible.

It is the only gem known to man that is made of a single element.

Diamond is completely made of Carbon atoms crystallized in a cubic arrangement

Structure

DIAMOND

Carbon sp3 bonding.

Carbon atoms forming tetrahedral bonds with four nearest neighbors.

Crystals with a cubic structure

Each carbon atom in a diamond is covalently bonded to four other carbons in a tetrahedron.

These tetrahedrons together form a 3-dimensional network of six-membered carbon rings (similar to cyclohexane), in the chair conformation, allowing for zero bond angle strain.

Diamond strength is due to the network of covalent bonds and hexagonal rings

LifeGem methods

Patent Claims:

a) Cremating human remains to produce carbon

b) Filtering the carbon

c) Purifying the carbon

d) Graphitizing the carbon

e) Creating gems using crystal growth sublimation.

After receiving 8oz of ashes:

Purifying the carbon and conversion to graphite is done in one step.

Diamond Synthesis:

LifeGem has been secretive in order to maintain a “competitive edge over competition”. This has created much debate over the methods they use to convert graphite to diamond.

Many people have tried to create diamonds from non-purified ashes, and the result is not pretty. LifeGem spent more research and development money on this phase than anything else and were awarded a U.S. Patent on it in August of 2007.

Cremation or Carbon Capture

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...ss is typically smaller than a belt press and can achieve the pressure and temperature necessary to create synthetic diamond faster.

Diamond seeds are placed at the bottom of the press. The internal part of press is heated by a tubular, graphite heater. This generates temperatures above 1400°C and melts the solvent metal. The molten metal dissolves the high purity carbon source, which is then transported to the diamond seeds and precipitates. Nitrogen is removed by mixing small quantities of Ti or boron with the metal so a colorless diamond is synthesized.

There is a highly controlled cooling process that takes place over many days and allows the carbon atoms to build up on top of the diamond seed. The growth cell is removed from the HPHT machine once the growth cycle is complete. The new rough diamond is cleaned and now ready for final cutting and polishing.